Table of Contents HIDE
- Ashes of Creation
- Blue Protocol
- Pax Dei
- Dune: Awakening
- Undawn
- ARK 2
- The Day Before
- Corepunk
- Chrono Odyssey
- Throne and Liberty
- Palia
- ArcheAge 2
- Riot MMO
- Soulframe
- Night Crows
- Wayfinder
- Past Fate
- War of Dragnorox
- Mad World
- Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
- The Quinfall
- Untamed Isles
- Odin: Valhalla Rising
- Camelot Unchained
- Conclusion
In this collection, I have gathered for you the most popular and the most anticipated MMORPGs of 2023, which have already been released or are presumably going to be released this year. I must say that the MMORPG genre has not been developing much recently. Developers time and again create similar multiplayer grind games, hardly adding anything new. For instance, for many years now we have not been able to get a decent survival system (with hunger, thirst, and other factors), construction (building with huge blocks doesn’t count!), firearms (like in New World, but with a balanced system), injury systems, a realistic combat system (where armor protects only the parts of the character it is worn on), the ability for free flight, honest rewards for participating in massive raids against bosses, an interactive crafting with customizing the appearance of items (like forging swords in Mount & Blade 2 Bannerlord), and so on – this list can go on for a long time.
Many of the features I’ve listed are already present in some existing games, but they are either poorly implemented or exist separately from each other. I am deeply convinced that when there is someone who will bring all this together, we will get the best online game in history. But for now, I invite you to check out the list of the best MMORPGs of 2023. Some of them can indeed delight us with interesting and unusual mechanics.
Ashes of Creation
Perhaps one of the most promising upcoming MMORPGs in 2023 will be Ashes of Creation. This SANDPARK MMORPG operates on Unreal Engine 5 and offers dynamic world development based on player actions. The combat system blends tab-targeting and action with style choice, supported by a class system that provides 64 combinations from eight choices. PvE and PvP elements abound with raids, dungeons, world bosses, sieges, and guilds while peaceful content includes housing, farming, trading, politics, and social interactions.
With a vast, diverse world featuring various biomes and climates, players can explore underwater locations and experience changes in day time and seasons. Four main races and four sub-races, alongside rare artifacts and the ability to metamorphose into various creatures, provide a nuanced gaming experience. Additionally, useful companions in the form of pets and diverse mounts for land, water, and air travel enhance gameplay. The game also offers extensive character customization and progression systems not only based on character levels but also on nodes, classes, artifacts, pets, and mounts.
Blue Protocol
Another MMORPG 2023, Blue Protocol offers players an anime-styled fantasy world powered by Unreal Engine 4. Players can choose from various character classes such as Aegis Fighter, Blast Archer, Spell Caster, and Twin Striker, each offering unique combat approaches. The dynamic combat system integrates active evasion, combo, and special moves, while character customization extends to appearance, clothing, hairstyle, and voice.
Advancement involves leveling, skill acquisition, equipment upgrades, and weapon and armor enhancements. Gameplay also includes a mix of main and side quests, with group systems allowing up to six members. Notably, various types of monsters, bosses, dungeons, and raids provide PvE opportunities, while the crafting system enables item, food, and drink production. Pets can be utilized in battle or as transport, and a day-night and weather system influences the environment and monsters.
Pax Dei
Pax Dei, one of the best MMORPG 2023, immerses players in a vast, dynamic, medieval world imbued with myths, ghosts, and magic. Free role selection allows for a wide range of professions, classes, and specializations, complemented by three unique kingdoms with diverse histories, cultures, and objectives. Frequent and random in-game events influence both the world and its players.
The combat system hinges on a blend of realism and tactical decision-making, taking into account weapon types, armor, skills, and surroundings. The player-driven economy thrives on resource management, trade, and crafting, while extensive construction options enable the creation of homes, castles, cities, and fortifications. Large-scale, exhilarating sieges occur over territories and resources. Communication methods include voice chat, gestures, emotes, and letters, and the character progression system remains nonlinear and individualistic, depending on player choices and actions.
Dune: Awakening
The new MMORPG Dune: Awakening transports players into the world of Arrakis, where water equates to life and sandworms bring death. Player characters are developed through extensive customization and skills enhancement, with loyalty defined by the character’s actions, affiliations, and attire. Gameplay includes visiting various Arrakis locations, such as deep canyons, underground labs, vast dunes, and villages.
Survival in this MMORPG necessitates finding water, maintaining stillsuits, building and upgrading shelters, and avoiding sunlight, sandstorms, and sandworms. The game offers epic third-person battles with rapid interplay between infantry, ground, and flying vehicles, while crafting permits the creation of items and weapons from harvested resources. Social interaction, cooperation, and competition over resources and territories are core aspects of gameplay progression, which relies on the development of character skills and reputation among other players and factions.
Undawn
The game featuring Will Smith in its trailer certainly demands our attention. Undawn, set in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, offers both PvP and PvE modes. Exploration of diverse locations, including cities, forests, and deserts, is coupled with survival under constant threat from the infected and other survivors. Adapting to hazardous environmental conditions such as radiation, temperature, hunger, and thirst is essential.
Gameplay also involves building settlements, enhancing their defenses and resources, crafting and upgrading gear, weapons, and transportation. Skill and ability development aligns with the player’s chosen gameplay style, while cooperative missions and raids with other survivors, PvP zones and arenas, and trading and resource exchange add an additional layer of interaction. Various NPCs influence the game’s storyline and world, with a range of events and activities such as hunting, fishing, and farming providing further depth.
ARK 2
Despite the fact that Ark 2 can’t be classified as an MMORPG in the traditional sense, it possesses many key features of the genre. The game’s main mechanics involve survival in a dangerous world populated with dinosaurs and other creatures, which can be tamed, fought, or used for transportation. Survival extends to resource collection, crafting of weapons and items, shelter and base construction, territory exploration, as well as cooperative or competitive interaction with other players. The game’s primary objective is not only to fight for survival in harsh conditions where any moment could be your last, but also to strive to change the present and influence the future. The narrative mode introduces new characters and narrates the adventures of Santiago, voiced by Vin Diesel, and his daughter Miku. This title introduces updates in graphics and animation, new types of dinosaurs and creatures, new locations and biomes, and new types of weapons and technologies.
The Day Before
With each passing year, multiplayer survival games are becoming increasingly popular, and The Day Before is ready to please fans of the genre with its unique features. The game, highlighted as one of the best MMORPGs of 2023, is set in a post-apocalyptic America, where players face off against infected enemies and other survivors. Gameplay includes exploration of urban and forest locations, combat with various weapons, and resource management, including food, weapons, and vehicles. Players can communicate with others via radio and can play alone or cooperatively with friends, engaging in conflicts over resources or territories. Realistic weather conditions impact visibility, sounds, and enemy behavior, enriching the immersive experience. Crafting and character customization options further allow players to shape their survival strategy.
Corepunk
Offering an ambitious and incredibly appealing gameplay, Corepunk showcases a top-down MOBA-style approach. This multiplayer role-playing action game, set in a cyberpunk universe, offers an open world with a fog of war system, day-night cycle, and player-vs-player battles with the possibility of setting traps. Professions, guilds, player trading, and a richly-developed universe with various cultures, races, and factions provide depth to the gameplay. Players can engage unique enemies and navigate dungeons of varying difficulty levels. Character customization is available, featuring numerous character classes with distinct abilities and gameplay styles. The game also incorporates a crafting system and various customization systems including skins, buffs, parameters, voicing for mobs, exploration, and loot drop systems.
Chrono Odyssey
Unusually captivating and reminiscent of Elden Ring in ambiance, Chrono Odyssey is among the best MMORPGs of 2023. Its gameplay unfolds in a fantasy world with elements of science fiction where players travel through different epochs and dimensions in search of Idolla, the time-controlling deity. There are 12 character classes to choose from, each with their own specialization and combat style, and an action-oriented battle system that encourages dodging and combo attacks.
This game supports both PvE and PvP modes across a range of locations such as cities, forests, deserts, and dungeons. High-quality graphics with detailed textures, lighting, and shadows provide immersive visual experiences, while a variety of bosses offer challenging encounters. Players can customize characters, develop skills, engage in crafting, join guilds for shared missions, and tame animals for companionship or transportation, with game elements featuring random generation for diverse gameplay.
Throne and Liberty
Fans of Lineage 2 and general enthusiasts of NC Soft’s offerings long anticipated the arrival of Throne and Liberty, though early testers harshly critiqued its gameplay. It is an MMO with a vast open world, supporting a large number of players and both PVE and PVP systems. The battle mechanics rely on a tab-targeting system, which some players might find static as characters can’t attack while moving and there are no auto-attacks. The game integrates automated systems for combat and movement, including auto-farm and offline auto-play modes. In lieu of character classes, skills are determined by equipment. Notably, the game features a day-night cycle and weather system that influences gameplay, open-world public dungeons, large-scale bosses, and PVP encounters, all set against impressive graphics. It should be noted that the game incorporates a system of microtransactions.
Palia
Palia, a type of peaceful MMORPG, emphasizes activities like home-building, visiting other players, and engaging in social interactions. Identified as the best MMORPG 2023, it offers players the opportunity to engage in activities such as fishing, farming, resource collection, and cooking. Players can also communicate with each other and establish their own homes and land parcels. Furthermore, exploration of varied landscapes and biomes, crafting items, completing different tasks, and character progression are all integral parts of gameplay. Varied vegetation, animal life, choice of character professions, different types of clothing and accessories, formation of guilds, modes of transportation, and resource extraction from the earth and dungeons all contribute to a dynamic, immersive world.
ArcheAge 2
Currently, little is known about ArcheAge 2 as the developers have not disclosed any details. Based on the limited information available, ArcheAge 2 is presumed to be a next-generation MMORPG. The game is designed with an open world, various types of combat skills, weapons and armor, as well as different types of magic. Numerous tasks and achievements, character progression systems, choice of professions, and an assortment of clothing and accessories are part of the gameplay. Additionally, players can create guilds and clans, move around the game world using various transportation options, and gather resources from the earth and dungeons. It also features a variety of animals and creatures, and the ability to establish homes and land parcels.
Riot MMO
Despite the limited information available online about the ambitious Riot MMO, what’s known is that the game will be closely linked to the universe of League of Legends, a popular MOBA. This upcoming MMORPG 2023 allows players to journey through the LOL universe, choosing character classes and races, and improving characters and their equipment. In addition, players can participate in PvP and PvE battles, level up their pets, form guilds, and engage in guild battles, tasks, and events. The game also includes crafting, trading between players, use of magical and physical abilities, and support and debuffing tactics for allies and opponents, respectively. A multitude of diverse locations will also be featured in this game.
Soulframe
Soulframe, with its atmosphere and aesthetics, is reminiscent of Elden Ring and Dark Souls 3. Intriguingly, the game is developed by Digital Extremes, the company behind the highly popular online game Warframe. In this upcoming MMORPG 2023, players can choose from different character classes, wield various weapons, and use diverse skills and spells. The gameplay allows for character, weapon, skill, and spell enhancement, and features battles with other players and bosses. Exploration of different locations, quest completion, and player chat communication also form part of the game’s design. Additionally, players can form guilds and extend invitations to other players, while a crafting system is integrated into the game.
Night Crows
Night Crows, touted as one of the best MMORPG 2023, offers a diverse selection of 20 character classes set in a fantasy rendition of 1200s Europe. The gameplay incorporates large-scale PvP battles both on land and in the air, and siege content designed for expansive PvP. Moreover, players can engage in crafting, trading, and questing, with systems in place for resource extraction and item enhancement. The game provides opportunities for character progression and interacting with friendly NPCs and mobs, while a skill and ability system for the characters broadens gameplay possibilities. In addition, Night Crows includes achievement tracking, guild and clan formation, social functions like chat and friendship, and a housing system for players to lay claim to in-game land.
Wayfinder
Wayfinder, at first glance, captivates with vibrant visuals, however, the gameplay still raises many questions. Currently known is that the game’s combat system allows players to select their path and style of play. They can unlock their powers and confront a hostile force that has overrun their world. Furthermore, players can control chaos and tailor endless adventures, engage with friends, and utilize various character classes. The gameplay includes an array of weapons, abilities, and items, alongside diverse skills and techniques that can be combined. Experience points and level-ups can be gained, with rewards achievable for completing tasks, winning battles, fulfilling achievements, quests, challenges, objectives, and goals, contributing to Wayfinder being considered among the best MMORPG 2023.
Past Fate
While Past Fate is unlikely to revolutionize the MMORPG genre, it will certainly find its audience. This MMORPG offers an open world where players’ freedom is a central element. It invites exploration of vast continents and islands across its enormous world. Traversing treacherous seas is a unique feature, offering the opportunity to recruit a personal crew for assistance in naval combat. With elements such as building and magic, the game presents diverse locations, quests, characters, items, types of transportation, weaponry, armor, animals, and plants, ensuring a rich and varied gameplay experience.
War of Dragnorox
While only general gameplay information about the upcoming War of Dragnorox is known, it’s apparent that the game provides multiple customization options. Players can choose from a variety of character classes, races, and professions, and can upgrade their characters, acquire new items and equipment, and enhance this equipment. Different types of weapons, armor, spells, and skills are available for combat use. Opportunities for player engagement include boss battles, PvP and PvE fights, group tasks, and quests. The game also facilitates exploration of dungeons and other locations, and features a chat for player communication. Crafting systems and a system for achievements and rewards add another layer of interaction.
Mad World
Unusual among most entries on this list, Mad World will feature isometric two-dimensional graphics. This upcoming MMORPG 2023 allows players to choose from four character classes: warrior, mage, archer, and assassin. Numerous types of weapons and armor are available, with skills and abilities upgradable over time. Players can join guilds to fight alongside others, take on bosses for rewards, and engage in PvP battles. The game supports the use of spells, abilities, and vehicles for in-world navigation. A crafting system enables creation and trading of items among players, and quests offer rewards for task completion.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
While it’s clear that the upcoming MMORPG 2023, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen, is not leading in terms of graphics, the gameplay shines in other aspects. Players can choose from nine races and twelve classes, with character abilities and relationships influenced by the choice of deity. A climate system brings variability, with different areas requiring adaptation to the respective weather conditions. Upon death, characters lose experience and leave their equipment at the point of demise, necessitating either a return to the location or use of special NPC services. Combat emphasizes team work and environmental exploitation, and players earn experience through defeating enemies and completing tasks. Exploration, crafting, and cooperative content further enrich the gameplay, making for an immersive fantasy experience.
The Quinfall
Based on what the developers showcased in the announcement trailer, The Quinfall seems promising. This best MMORPG 2023 offers an open, dynamic, procedurally-generated world. Player-created characters, diverse in race and class, grow through a skill tree. The realistic combat relies on physics and animations, offering varied fight styles and weaponry. An extensive crafting system includes resource gathering, item creation, and equipment enhancement. An economy managed by players provides trade, auctions, taxation, and in-game currency. Social features support both cooperation and competition, offering guilds, alliances, wars, raids, and both PvP and PvE events. A nonlinear storyline dependent on player choices, branching quests, and dialogues create a rich narrative experience.
Untamed Isles
Judging by the preliminary information, Untamed Isles will become another fantasy social simulator where players will tame and collect creatures. This online MMORPG provides turn-based battles among monsters, and players can explore islands that constantly change under the influence of weather and time of day. Players can hunt and tame monsters of various types, sizes, and characteristics, and breed and train them to enhance their genetics and abilities. Players can choose their path in the game, following different professions, storylines, and quests, or they can visit the Wild Zone to find rare monsters and items while potentially encountering other players. Players can also influence the island’s ecosystem by changing the monster population and behavior through their actions.
Odin: Valhalla Rising
Odin: Valhalla Rising will become a cross-platform MMORPG, based on Norse mythology. This game presents an open-world setting, offering four character classes: warrior, mage, priest, and rogue, each with unique abilities, combat styles, and roles. Players can freely move through diverse locations such as Asgard, Midgard, Jotunheim, and Niflheim, with the game providing a seamless world without loading zones or transition screens. The game offers diverse content, including PvE, PvP, raids, sieges, crafting, trading, and social activities, while also supporting cross-platform play between PC and mobile devices. Other gameplay elements include dynamic events that impact the world and players in real-time, a divine power system that enables players to use special abilities, invoke gods, or transform into them, and a mounts system which not only serves for transport but also participates in battles.
Camelot Unchained
Camelot Unchained is a dark fantasy MMORPG based on the legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, featuring three factions: Arthurians, Vikings, and Tuatha De Danann, each with distinct architecture, culture, religion, magic, and races. The game primarily focuses on PvP battles between factions for control over territories and resources, supporting a large number of players on a single server and battlefield. The gameplay includes dynamic and destructible environments thanks to its proprietary engine, while the C.U.B.E. (Camelot Unchained Building Environment) tool allows players to construct their own castles, fortifications, and siege machines. It has a nonlinear character progression system that enables players to choose their skills, abilities, and gameplay style. Other unique features include a magic system requiring the use of various components for spell creation, a realistic combat system accounting for physics, anatomy, fatigue, and injuries, and a crafting system for creating various items.
Conclusion
At this moment, these are all the known upcoming MMORPGs of 2023 that we have sufficient information about to include in this collection. If you know of other forthcoming games, please don’t hesitate to mention them in the comments. Our readers will be very grateful, and the list will definitely be updated.